Difference between revisions of "Team:Harvard BioDesign/Team"

 
(114 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 14: Line 14:
 
     <!--[if lte IE 8]><link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/ie8.css" /><![endif]-->
 
     <!--[if lte IE 8]><link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/ie8.css" /><![endif]-->
 
     <!--[if lte IE 9]><link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/ie9.css" /><![endif]-->
 
     <!--[if lte IE 9]><link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/css/ie9.css" /><![endif]-->
 +
<style>
 +
#wrapLeft{
 +
float:left;
 +
}
  
 +
#wrapRight{
 +
float:right;
 +
}
  
 +
#wrapping{
 +
position:relative;
 +
width:100%;
 +
}
 +
 +
#clearFloat{
 +
float:clear;
 +
}
 +
 +
</style>
 
   </head>
 
   </head>
 
   <body>
 
   <body>
 
  
 
     <!-- header -->
 
     <!-- header -->
 
       <div id="header">
 
       <div id="header">
 
+
        <div class="inner">
 
         <div class="top">
 
         <div class="top">
 
 
           <!-- Logo -->
 
           <!-- Logo -->
 
             <div id="logo">
 
             <div id="logo">
               <span class="harvardLogo"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/9/94/HarvardBioDesign2015Logo2.png"alt="Harvard Logo" style="width:212px;height:144px;"/>  </span>
+
               <span class="harvardLogo"><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/9/94/HarvardBioDesign2015Logo2.png"alt="Harvard Logo" style="width:275px;height:200px;margin-left:-50px"/></a>  </span>
 
             <!-- <h1 id="title">Harvard BioDesign 2015</h1>-->
 
             <!-- <h1 id="title">Harvard BioDesign 2015</h1>-->
              <p>NAME OF PROJECT</p>
 
 
             </div><!-- #Logo -->
 
             </div><!-- #Logo -->
  
Line 48: Line 62:
 
               -->
 
               -->
 
           <!-- Subsections -->
 
           <!-- Subsections -->
            <h4> Content </h4>
+
<h4> Content </h4>
 
             <ul>
 
             <ul>
                 <li><a href="#top" id="top-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-home">Intro</span></a></li>
+
                 <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Team#top" id="top-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-home">About Us</span></a></li>
                 <li><a href="#portfolio" id="portfolio-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-th">Portfolio</span></a></li>
+
                 <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Team#overview" id="overview-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-th">Students</span></a></li>
                 <li><a href="#about" id="about-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-user">About Me</span></a></li>
+
                 <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Team#sitemap" id="sitemap-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-user">Instructors and Advisors</span></a></li>
                <li><a href="#contact" id="contact-link" class="skel-layers-ignoreHref"><span class="icon fa-envelope">Contact</span></a></li>
+
 
             </ul>
 
             </ul>
            </nav>
+
</nav>
</div><!--#top-->
+
</div><!--#top-->      
<nav id="nav">
+
       
+
  
 
         <div class="bottom">
 
         <div class="bottom">
        <h4> Main Pages</h4>
+
<nav id="nav"> <!-- Main Menu --> <h4><div class="innertwo">Main Pages</div></h4>  
            <ul>
+
<ul>  
                <li><a class="curPage" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign">Home</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign">Home</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Team">Team</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Project">Project</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Project">Project</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Results">Results</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Results">Results</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Notebook">Notebook</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Parts">Parts</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Parts">Parts</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Notebook">Notebook</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Practices">Practices</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Collaborations">Collaborations</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Safety">Safety</a></li>  
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Practices">Practices</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Collaborations">Collaborations</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Safety">Safety</a></li>  
+
<li><a class="curPage" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Team">Team</a></li>
                <li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Attributions">Attributions</a></li>
+
<li><a href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Harvard_BioDesign/Attributions">Attributions</a></li>  
            </ul>
+
</ul>
          </nav>
+
</nav>
 
+
  
  
Line 81: Line 91:
 
           <!-- Social Icons -->
 
           <!-- Social Icons -->
 
             <ul class="icons">
 
             <ul class="icons">
              <!--
+
 
              <li><a href="#" class="icon fa-twitter"><span class="label">Twitter</span></a></li>
+
              <li><a href="#" class="icon fa-facebook"><span class="label">Facebook</span></a></li>
+
              <li><a href="#" class="icon fa-github"><span class="label">Github</span></a></li>
+
              <li><a href="#" class="icon fa-dribbble"><span class="label">Dribbble</span></a></li>
+
              <li><a href="#" class="icon fa-envelope"><span class="label">Email</span></a></li>
+
            -->
+
 
               <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/harvardigem2015" target="_blank">
 
               <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/harvardigem2015" target="_blank">
 
                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/e/ed/Harvard2015Facebookwhite.png"alt="Facebook Logo" style="width:51px;height:51px;"></a></li>
 
                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/e/ed/Harvard2015Facebookwhite.png"alt="Facebook Logo" style="width:51px;height:51px;"></a></li>
Line 95: Line 99:
 
                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/9/98/Harvard2015Emaillogowhite.png" alt="Email Logo" style="width:51px;height:51px;"></a></li>  
 
                     <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/9/98/Harvard2015Emaillogowhite.png" alt="Email Logo" style="width:51px;height:51px;"></a></li>  
 
             </ul>
 
             </ul>
 
 
         </div><!--#bottom-->
 
         </div><!--#bottom-->
 
+
        </div><!==#inner-->
 
       </div><!--#header-->
 
       </div><!--#header-->
  
Line 107: Line 110:
 
             <div class="container">
 
             <div class="container">
  
              <header>
+
                          <header>
                 <h2 class="alt">Hi! I'm <strong>Prologue</strong>, a <a href="http://html5up.net/license">free</a> responsive<br />
+
                 <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/e/e2/Harvard2015_Team.png" width="200px" height="200px"/>
                site template designed by <a href="http://html5up.net">HTML5 UP</a>.</h2>
+
                <h2 > <strong>We are the Harvard iGEM team of 2015.</strong><br/>
                <p>Ligula scelerisque justo sem accumsan diam quis<br />
+
                    </h2>  
                vitae natoque dictum sollicitudin elementum.</p>
+
              </header>
+
  
 +
              </header><p> Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
 +
<br/> -Vincent Van Gogh</p>
 
               <footer>
 
               <footer>
                <a href="#portfolio" class="button scrolly">Magna Aliquam</a>
+
 
 
               </footer>
 
               </footer>
 +
  
 
             </div>
 
             </div>
 
           </section>
 
           </section>
  
         <!-- Portfolio -->
+
         <!-- Overview -->
           <section id="portfolio" class="two">
+
           <section id="overview" class="two">
 
             <div class="container">
 
             <div class="container">
  
 
               <header>
 
               <header>
                 <h2>Portfolio</h2>
+
                 <h2><strong>The Students </strong></h2>
 
               </header>
 
               </header>
  
              <p>Vitae natoque dictum etiam semper magnis enim feugiat convallis convallis
+
<div><div id="wrapLeft"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/8/8e/Harvard2015ProfileEthan.jpg" alt="Ethan" width="400px" height="268px"/></div><p>
              egestas rhoncus ridiculus in quis risus amet curabitur tempor orci penatibus.
+
Ethan Alley grew up beneath the blue sky of Albuquerque, NM, where he became accustomed to greasy breakfast burritos, eye-watering cowboy coffee, and long drives. A sophomore, Ethan studies biology and computation and began his microbiology career culturing bacteria off of household surfaces. He is interested in applying nature's design and the tools of computation to the technical challenges of sustainability. When not juggling protein gels or scribbling in his lab notebook, Ethan can be found listening to podcasts, walking around outside, or drowning black beans in Sriracha hot sauce.
              Tellus erat mauris ipsum fermentum etiam vivamus eget. Nunc nibh morbi quis
+
</div>
              fusce hendrerit lacus ridiculus.</p>
+
<br/>
 +
                  <div> <div id="wrapRight"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/8/88/Harvard2015ProfileLydia.jpg" alt="Lydia" width="400" height="268"/></div>Lydia is a rising sophomore at Harvard College concentrating in Applied Mathematics. She is from New York City and attended Stuyvesant High School, where she was active on the New York City Math Team. She has previously conducted research in computer science at the Research Science Institute at MIT. She enjoys swimming, piano, and will miniprep for chocolate.
 +
           
 +
</div>
 +
<br/>
  
              <div class="row">
+
                  <div>
                <div class="4u 12u$(mobile)">
+
                  <div id="wrapLeft"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/3/3e/Harvard2015ProfileElizabeth.jpg" alt="Elizabeth" width="400" height="268"/></div>
                  <article class="item">
+
Elizabeth is a sophomore in Lowell house, studying Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a secondary in Classics. While she's lived in a variety of places such as California, Germany, and Japan, I currently hail from Massachusetts. She loves art, ancient history, poetry, photography, nature, biology, and God. Elizabeth's been interested in science since she asked for a chemistry set and telescope in elementary school, but she truly found her love of biology in the Travis AFB Clinical Investigation Facility, helping to use medical-grade honey to control infections of antibiotic resistant bacteria in traumatic wounds as an alternative to antibiotics. </div>
                    <a href="#" class="image fit"><img src="images/pic02.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+
                    <header>
+
                      <h3>Ipsum Feugiat</h3>
+
                    </header>
+
                  </article>
+
                  <article class="item">
+
                    <a href="#" class="image fit"><img src="images/pic03.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+
                    <header>
+
                      <h3>Rhoncus Semper</h3>
+
                    </header>
+
                  </article>
+
                </div>
+
                <div class="4u 12u$(mobile)">
+
                  <article class="item">
+
                    <a href="#" class="image fit"><img src="images/pic04.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+
                    <header>
+
                      <h3>Magna Nullam</h3>
+
                    </header>
+
                  </article>
+
                  <article class="item">
+
                    <a href="#" class="image fit"><img src="images/pic05.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+
                    <header>
+
                      <h3>Natoque Vitae</h3>
+
                    </header>
+
                  </article>
+
                </div>
+
                <div class="4u$ 12u$(mobile)">
+
                  <article class="item">
+
                    <a href="#" class="image fit"><img src="images/pic06.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+
                    <header>
+
                      <h3>Dolor Penatibus</h3>
+
                    </header>
+
                  </article>
+
                  <article class="item">
+
                    <a href="#" class="image fit"><img src="images/pic07.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+
                    <header>
+
                      <h3>Orci Convallis</h3>
+
                    </header>
+
                  </article>
+
                </div>
+
              </div>
+
  
            </div>
+
<br/>
 +
                <div>
 +
<div id="wrapRight"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/3/33/Harvard2015ProfileSyl.jpg" alt="Ben" width="400" height="268"/></div>
 +
Sylvia is a junior at Harvard College concentrating in Neurobiology. She is from North Potomac, MD and went to Thomas Wootton High School where her area of expertise lied in computer science and graphic design. She had worked previously at the National Institute of Health doing a range of projects from researching the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis to data analysis of hemophilia patients. Her passions however lie somewhere between studying human behavior, artistic expression, and not being “normal”. She enjoys sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. </div>
 +
 
 +
<br/>
 +
                  <div>
 +
                    <div id="wrapLeft"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/1/14/Harvard2015ProfileBen.jpg" alt="Ben" width="400" height="268"/></div>
 +
 
 +
Ben is a sophomore at Harvard College concentrating in Applied Mathematics. He grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts and attended the Roxbury Latin School. Prior to joining the Harvard iGEM team, Ben had worked with a number of different labs ranging from the USDA Sugar Beet and Bean research unit at Michigan State University to the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease group at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. His primary fields of interest include protein and genome modeling and improving the implementation of programming in biological research. When he is not in the lab, Ben enjoys sailing, football and Super Smash Bros.</div>
 +
 
 +
</div>
 
           </section>
 
           </section>
  
        <!-- About Me -->
+
 
          <section id="about" class="three">
+
 
 +
  <section id="sitemap" class="three">
 
             <div class="container">
 
             <div class="container">
  
 
               <header>
 
               <header>
                 <h2>About Me</h2>
+
                 <h2><strong>Instructors and Advisors</strong></h2>
 
               </header>
 
               </header>
  
              <a href="#" class="image featured"><img src="images/pic08.jpg" alt="" /></a>
 
  
              <p>Tincidunt eu elit diam magnis pretium accumsan etiam id urna. Ridiculus
+
<div><div id="wrapRight"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/c/c3/Harvard2015Neel.jpg" alt="Neel" height="257" width="258"/><header><h3>Neel Joshi, Ph.D.</h3><h4>Super Awesome Instructor</h4></header></div><p>
              ultricies curae quis et rhoncus velit. Lobortis elementum aliquet nec vitae
+
Neel is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has authored 11 publications and holds two patents.He is developing new biomaterials constructed from engineered proteins and peptides. The overarching goal of his research is to extract innovative design principles from materials and systems that are the product of natural evolution and recapitulate them in synthetic systems where their physical properties can be precisely tuned to suit biomedical and biotechnological needs. Current projects employ a range of approaches, including synthetic chemistry, protein engineering, directed evolution, and molecular biology. Working with the Synthetic Biology Platform, Neel has developed a novel protein switch platform that is able to convert the presence of certain biomolecules into a readily detectable signal. This work is being further developed for use in diagnostic applications for the tracking of disease biomarkers in bodily fluids and food samples. Another project associated with the Programmable Nanomaterials Platform is focused on engineering the molecular composition of bacterial biofilms to convert them from pathogenic substances into useful materials with non-natural function, such as filtration devices and catalytic membranes. Neel also has interests in mechanically responsive systems for drug delivery that take advantage of force-induced protein unfolding to release drugs on-demand in living systems.
              laoreet eget cubilia quam non etiam odio tincidunt montes. Elementum sem
+
              parturient nulla quam placerat viverra mauris non cum elit tempus ullamcorper
+
              dolor. Libero rutrum ut lacinia donec curae mus vel quisque sociis nec
+
              ornare iaculis.</p>
+
  
            </div>
 
          </section>
 
  
        <!-- Contact -->
 
          <section id="contact" class="four">
 
            <div class="container">
 
  
              <header>
+
</div>
                <h2>Contact</h2>
+
<div id="clearFloat"><br/></div>
              </header>
+
<br/>
  
              <p>Elementum sem parturient nulla quam placerat viverra
+
<div><div id="wrapLeft"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/0/0a/Harvard2015Marika.png" alt="Marika"/><header><h3>Marika Ziesack</h3><h4>The Advisor Who is in the Land Above (The 5th floor)</h4></header></div><p>
              mauris non cum elit tempus ullamcorper dolor. Libero rutrum ut lacinia
+
              donec curae mus. Eleifend id porttitor ac ultricies lobortis sem nunc
+
              orci ridiculus faucibus a consectetur. Porttitor curae mauris urna mi dolor.</p>
+
  
              <form method="post" action="#">
+
Marika is a Graduate Student in Pamela Silver's laboratory.  She works
                <div class="row">
+
on engineering microbes for renewable production of chemicals. She did
                  <div class="6u 12u$(mobile)"><input type="text" name="name" placeholder="Name" /></div>
+
her undergrad studies at the University of Heidelberg in Germany in
                  <div class="6u$ 12u$(mobile)"><input type="text" name="email" placeholder="Email" /></div>
+
Molecular Biotechnology. In 2008 she participated in the iGEM
                  <div class="12u$">
+
competition as a member of the Heidelberg team which sparked her
                    <textarea name="message" placeholder="Message"></textarea>
+
interest in synthetic biology. In her graduate studies, Marika
                  </div>
+
develops tools for metabolic engineering of microbes and applies those
                  <div class="12u$">
+
for the production of commodity chemicals such as fertilizer and fuel.
                    <input type="submit" value="Send Message" />
+
 
                  </div>
+
</div>
                </div>
+
<div id="clearFloat"><br/></div>
              </form>
+
<br/>
 +
 
 +
<div><div id="wrapRight"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/7/70/Harvard2015Matt.png" alt="Matt"/><header><h3>Matthew Niederhuber</h3><h4>The Advisor with the Graphic Skillz</h4></header></div><p>
 +
Matthew studies the cyanobacterial carboxysome, its structure, biogenesis, and potential synthetic applications. He is also involved in the lab’s ongoing work engineering bacteria to perform diagnostic and therapeutic functions in the human gut. He is interested in developing novel biological systems to address environmental and global health issues, and hopes to earn his PhD in Bioengineering.
 +
 
 +
</div>
 +
<div id="clearFloat"><br/></div>
 +
<br/>
 +
 
 +
<div><div id="wrapLeft"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/1/11/Harvard2015Chris.png" alt="Chris"/><header><h3>Chris Wintersinger</h3><h4>The Instructor Who Got Stuck With Us</h4></header></div><p>
 +
Chris Wintersinger is starting as a PhD student in bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is proudly Canadian and has been affectionately named “Wizard-singer” by his undergraduate colleagues since he is responsible for training them in methods of molecular biology and scientific research. When he is not helping students with their experiments, Chris is typically on his laptop contemplating how evolution may be leveraged with synthetic biology to develop protein biomaterials. On rare weekends that Chris escapes the lab, he may be found on mountain-tops, beaches, his bicycle, or anywhere where he can be active and in the great outdoors.
 +
</div>
 +
<div id="clearFloat"><br/></div>
 +
<br/>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<div><div id="wrapRight"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/c/c7/Harvard2015Isaac.png" alt="Isaac"/><header><h3>Isaac Plant</h3><h4>The "Boss" Instructor</h4></header></div><p>
 +
Isaac is a Ph.D. Candidate in Bioengineering at the John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has his Masters of Science in Philosophy and Public Policy for the London School of Economics and Political Science.
 +
Isaac’s work focuses on harnessing the unique biology of cyanobacteria to construct new microbial engineering paradigms. He is also interested in the policy and ethics of biological research, and has far more opinions than is generally considered healthy.
 +
</div>
 +
<div id="clearFloat"><br/></div>
 +
<br/>
  
 
             </div>
 
             </div>
          </section>
 
 
      </div>
 
  
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2015/4/4f/HarvardBioDesignEcoliSmall.png" width="200px" height="300px"/>
 +
  </section>
 +
     
 
     <!-- Footer -->
 
     <!-- Footer -->
 
       <div id="footer">
 
       <div id="footer">
  
        <!-- Copyright -->
+
     
 
           <ul class="copyright">
 
           <ul class="copyright">
            <li>&copy; Untitled. All rights reserved.</li><li>Design: <a href="http://html5up.net">HTML5 UP</a></li>
+
          <li>Site template designed by: <a href="http://html5up.net">HTML5 UP</a></li>
 
           </ul>
 
           </ul>
  

Latest revision as of 00:58, 19 September 2015


Prologue by HTML5 UP

We are the Harvard iGEM team of 2015.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
-Vincent Van Gogh

The Students

Ethan

Ethan Alley grew up beneath the blue sky of Albuquerque, NM, where he became accustomed to greasy breakfast burritos, eye-watering cowboy coffee, and long drives. A sophomore, Ethan studies biology and computation and began his microbiology career culturing bacteria off of household surfaces. He is interested in applying nature's design and the tools of computation to the technical challenges of sustainability. When not juggling protein gels or scribbling in his lab notebook, Ethan can be found listening to podcasts, walking around outside, or drowning black beans in Sriracha hot sauce.


Lydia
Lydia is a rising sophomore at Harvard College concentrating in Applied Mathematics. She is from New York City and attended Stuyvesant High School, where she was active on the New York City Math Team. She has previously conducted research in computer science at the Research Science Institute at MIT. She enjoys swimming, piano, and will miniprep for chocolate.

Elizabeth
Elizabeth is a sophomore in Lowell house, studying Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a secondary in Classics. While she's lived in a variety of places such as California, Germany, and Japan, I currently hail from Massachusetts. She loves art, ancient history, poetry, photography, nature, biology, and God. Elizabeth's been interested in science since she asked for a chemistry set and telescope in elementary school, but she truly found her love of biology in the Travis AFB Clinical Investigation Facility, helping to use medical-grade honey to control infections of antibiotic resistant bacteria in traumatic wounds as an alternative to antibiotics.

Ben
Sylvia is a junior at Harvard College concentrating in Neurobiology. She is from North Potomac, MD and went to Thomas Wootton High School where her area of expertise lied in computer science and graphic design. She had worked previously at the National Institute of Health doing a range of projects from researching the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis to data analysis of hemophilia patients. Her passions however lie somewhere between studying human behavior, artistic expression, and not being “normal”. She enjoys sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women.

Ben
Ben is a sophomore at Harvard College concentrating in Applied Mathematics. He grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts and attended the Roxbury Latin School. Prior to joining the Harvard iGEM team, Ben had worked with a number of different labs ranging from the USDA Sugar Beet and Bean research unit at Michigan State University to the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease group at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. His primary fields of interest include protein and genome modeling and improving the implementation of programming in biological research. When he is not in the lab, Ben enjoys sailing, football and Super Smash Bros.

Instructors and Advisors

Neel

Neel Joshi, Ph.D.

Super Awesome Instructor

Neel is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has authored 11 publications and holds two patents.He is developing new biomaterials constructed from engineered proteins and peptides. The overarching goal of his research is to extract innovative design principles from materials and systems that are the product of natural evolution and recapitulate them in synthetic systems where their physical properties can be precisely tuned to suit biomedical and biotechnological needs. Current projects employ a range of approaches, including synthetic chemistry, protein engineering, directed evolution, and molecular biology. Working with the Synthetic Biology Platform, Neel has developed a novel protein switch platform that is able to convert the presence of certain biomolecules into a readily detectable signal. This work is being further developed for use in diagnostic applications for the tracking of disease biomarkers in bodily fluids and food samples. Another project associated with the Programmable Nanomaterials Platform is focused on engineering the molecular composition of bacterial biofilms to convert them from pathogenic substances into useful materials with non-natural function, such as filtration devices and catalytic membranes. Neel also has interests in mechanically responsive systems for drug delivery that take advantage of force-induced protein unfolding to release drugs on-demand in living systems.



Marika

Marika Ziesack

The Advisor Who is in the Land Above (The 5th floor)

Marika is a Graduate Student in Pamela Silver's laboratory. She works on engineering microbes for renewable production of chemicals. She did her undergrad studies at the University of Heidelberg in Germany in Molecular Biotechnology. In 2008 she participated in the iGEM competition as a member of the Heidelberg team which sparked her interest in synthetic biology. In her graduate studies, Marika develops tools for metabolic engineering of microbes and applies those for the production of commodity chemicals such as fertilizer and fuel.



Matt

Matthew Niederhuber

The Advisor with the Graphic Skillz

Matthew studies the cyanobacterial carboxysome, its structure, biogenesis, and potential synthetic applications. He is also involved in the lab’s ongoing work engineering bacteria to perform diagnostic and therapeutic functions in the human gut. He is interested in developing novel biological systems to address environmental and global health issues, and hopes to earn his PhD in Bioengineering.



Chris

Chris Wintersinger

The Instructor Who Got Stuck With Us

Chris Wintersinger is starting as a PhD student in bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is proudly Canadian and has been affectionately named “Wizard-singer” by his undergraduate colleagues since he is responsible for training them in methods of molecular biology and scientific research. When he is not helping students with their experiments, Chris is typically on his laptop contemplating how evolution may be leveraged with synthetic biology to develop protein biomaterials. On rare weekends that Chris escapes the lab, he may be found on mountain-tops, beaches, his bicycle, or anywhere where he can be active and in the great outdoors.



Isaac

Isaac Plant

The "Boss" Instructor

Isaac is a Ph.D. Candidate in Bioengineering at the John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He has his Masters of Science in Philosophy and Public Policy for the London School of Economics and Political Science. Isaac’s work focuses on harnessing the unique biology of cyanobacteria to construct new microbial engineering paradigms. He is also interested in the policy and ethics of biological research, and has far more opinions than is generally considered healthy.